The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (54 page)

In a 1957 policy statement adopted by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Board of Directors, the ACLU acknowledged that homosexuals, “like members of other socially heretical or deviant groups, are more vulnerable than others to official persecution, denial of due process in prosecution, and entrapment.” Although the ACLU was committed to defend any individual when due process was denied, the ACLU viewed homosexuality as a moral rather than a legal issue and agreed with the federal government’s position that homosexuals are a serious “security risk.” “Homosexuality and Civil Liberties,”
We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics,
eds. Mark Blasius and Shane Phelan (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 274-275.

“Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in the U.S. Government,” Blasius and Phelan, pp. 241-251.

For a detailed account of the oppression of homosexuality in the Cold War era, see John D‘Emilio, “The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War America,”
Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University
(New York: Routledge, 1992), pp. 57-73.

The philosophical basis for homophile organizations’ mission to improve the “plight” of homosexuals in America is Donald Webster Cory’s 1951 work, The
Homosexual in America: A Subjective Approach
(New York: Arno Press, 1975).

For a history of The Mattachine Society, see John D’Emilio, “Dreams Deferred: The Birth and Betrayal of America’s First Gay Liberation Movement,”
Making Trouble,
pp. 17-56. For an account of One, Inc., see
Homophile Studies in Theory and Practice,
ed. W. Dorr Legg (San Francisco: GLB, 1994).

Alfred Kinsey et al.,
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
(Philadelphia: Saunders, 1948), p. 651; Alfred Kinsey, et al.,
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
(Philadelphia: Saunders, 1953), p. 473.

Kinsey,
Human Male,
p. 650; Kinsey,
Human Female,
p. 454.

For a history of the American Psychiatric Association’s position on homosexuality, see Ronald Bayer,
Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981).

Edward Alwood,
Straight News
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), p. 31.

Confidential File review, Variety,
May 4, 1954, p. 9.

Ibid.

My discussion of the three
Open Mind
episodes is based on summaries published in
The Ladder.
See Sten Russell,
“Open Mind:
A Review of Three Programs,”
The Ladder,
November 1957, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 4-7, 22, 23.

David L. Freeman, “For Courage: One Salutes Curtis White,”
One,
May 1954, p. 27. According to Alwood, White still chooses not to identify himself, but he did go on to a successful career in public relations. For more about his appearance, see Alwood, p. 332, 35n.

Alwood, pp. 34-35.

Phillip Jason, “Mattachine Official Participates on New York Television Program on Homosexuality Subject,”
Mattachine Review,
April 1958, Vol. IV, No. 4, p. 25. The Mattachine article does not refer to Segura by name.

John W. Reavis, proposal for “The Gay Ones,” January 10, 1961, Mattachine Society, Inc. of New York. Records, 1956-1976. International Gay Information Center Archives, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

As quoted in “Calling Shots,”
Mattachine Review,
October 1961, Vol. VII, No. 10, p. 16.

The Rejected
review,
Daily Variety,
September 13,1961. KQED-TV has been unable to obtain a copy of
The Rejected.

Terrence O’Flaherty,
San Francisco Chronicle,
as quoted in “TV Critics Praise
Rejected,” The Ladder,
October 1961, Vol. 6, No. 1, p. 17.

“Television Breakthrough Brings Favorable Comment,”
Mattachine Review,
October 1961, Vol. VII, No. 10, p. 16.

See “Television Columnists Score Program Values,”
Mattachine Review,
October 1961, Vol. VII, No. 10, pp. 18-20.

Sten Russell; “KTTV Presents
Argument:
Society and the Homosexual,”
The Ladder,
June 1962, Vol. 6, No. 9, pp. 9-10. There is also certainly a greater stigma attached to male homosexuality in a patriarchal society because the emotional and physical bonds that characterize female relationships, both gay and straight, are considered taboo in heterosexual male friendships. For a discussion of the differences between homosexual and homosocial bonding between men and women, see Eve Sedgwick,
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), pp. 1-5.

Reavis, p. 3.

Off
the
Cuff:
Homosexuality and Lesbianism review, Variety, March 6, 1963.

“What Did She Mean By Good Luck?”
The Eleventh Hour,
NBC-TV, November 13, 1962, written by Ellis Marcus.

For example, in the early 1960s, psychoanalyst Dr. Richard Robertiello argued that various traumatic family patterns, in the form of different scenarios, are present in the background of all lesbians: a competitive, restrictive or cold mother or father, a poor relationship between the parents, a seductive brother, a sexually competitive older sister, and a rivalry between siblings. Furthermore, Dr. Robertiello concludes that homosexual seduction in childhood differentiates the homosexual from the non-homosexual with the same backgrounds. Robertiello expressed his views in a talk to the American Association for the Advancement of Science entitled “A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Female,” a taped broadcast of which aired over a Berkeley radio station. For a summary of the broadcast, see Florence Conrad, “A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Female Homosexual,”
The Ladder,
April 1961, Vol. 4, No. 7, pp. 10-11.

Robin Richards, “Dramatic Arts,”
The Ladder,
January 1964, p. 22.

CBS:
The Homosexuals
aired almost two years after executive producer Fred Friendly first assigned the project to producer William Peters. Before its scheduled premiere, Friendly was promoted to news president, a position he abruptly left after a dispute with the network brass about CBS’s coverage of the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, the network had concerns about the “taste” of the program’s content, so Friendly’s replacement, Dick Salant, hired producer Morgan to reconceive the documentary. Consequently, only ten minutes of Peters’ film, which has never been publicly screened, remain in the version broadcast in March of 1967. Reportedly, the difference between the two films in their approach and content is considerable. According to
Daily Variety,
the original version was largely from society’s point-of-view with the homosexual’s perspective in the background, while Morgan’s version “investigates the where and how of society’s impingement of this particular minority.” See “Tale of Two CBS Homo Shows,”
Daily Variety,
February 22, 1967.

CBS
Reports: The Homosexuals
, CBS-TV, March 7, 1967.

Charles Socarides,
The Overt Homosexual
(New York: Grune and Straton, 1968).

“TV Key Previews,”
Washington Star,
March 7, 1967, p. A-16; George Gent, “TV: C.B.S. Reports on Homosexuals,”
The New York Times,
March 8, 1967, p. 91; Dean Gysel, “A Frank Look at Homosexuality,”
Chicago Daily News,
March 8, 1967, p. 67. For further background information on the production and critical response to the documentary, see Alwood, pp. 69-74.

Clay Gowran, “Repeat: TV No Spot to Unload Garbage,”
Chicago Tribune,
March 8, 1967, Sec. 2-A, p. 4.

Gent, p. 91. Many years later, Wallace admitted that he should have known better because he had two gay friends who had been living together for years, but at the time he considered them the exception to the rule. See Alwood, p.74. When the program was screened in a Greenwich Village movie theatre in the summer of 1995, Wallace attended the screening and afterwards led an impromptu question-and-answer session with the audience.

“Discovery at Fourteen,”
The Bold Ones,
NBC-TV, March 5, 1972, written by Robert Malcolm Young, based on a character created by Burt Nodella.

“The Other Martin Loring,”
Marcus Welby,
M.D., ABC-TV, February 20, 1973, written by Dick Nelson.

Ibid.

Kathryn C. Montgomery,
Target: Prime Time
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 77.

Albin Krebs,
“Welby
is Scored by Gay Activists,”
The New York Times,
February 17, 1973, p. 63.

Randy Wicker and Martin St. John, “TV Show Sets Off Storm,”
The Advocate,
March 14, 1973, n.p.

Alwood, p. 142.

“Judge Drops ABC Zap Charges,”
The Advocate,
April 11, 1973.

Krebs, p. 63.

“Gay Activists Win ABC Concession,”
The New York Times,
February 21, 1973, p. 87.

“The Outrage,”
Marcus Welby,
M.D., ABC-TV, October 8, 1974, written by Eugene Price.

Alwood, pp. 147-151.

As reprinted in David Aiken, “Boy raped on TV show stirs protest,”
The Advocate,
September 11,1974, p. 10.

“The Outrage” (revised script), June 27, 1974,
Marcus Welby, M.D.
file, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Letter to William Page from Richard Gitter, August 13, 1974,
Marcus Welby,
M.D. file, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Ibid.

Letter to legislators from Dr. Bruce Voeller, September 30, 1974,
Marcus Welby
,
M.D
. file, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California. “Went to all key legislators” is hand-written on the top of the letter.

Letter to ABC affiliate station manager from Dr. Bruce Voeller, September 30, 1974,
Marcus Welby,
M.D. file, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California. “This is going to
home
addresses of all ABC-TV affiliates’ station managers. 170 of them.” is handwritten on top of the letter.

Terrence O’Flaherty, “Science Versus Medicine,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
October 9, 1974, n.p.

Press release from Rev. Fr. H. Francis Hines, Director of Advertising and Public Affairs for television station WPVI-TV Channel 6, Philadelphia, September 24, 1974, p. 1.

Press release from Rev. Fr. H. Francis Hines, p. 2.

“Undercurrent,”
Medical Center,
CBS-TV, September, 23, 1970, written by Robert Malcolm Young.

“Impasse,”
Medical Center,
CBS-TV, October 1, 1973, written by Barry Oringer.

Ibid.

“A Very Strange Triangle,”
The Bold Ones: The Doctors,
NBC-TV, October 31,1972, written by Peggy O’Shea.

John J. O’Connor, “TV: Homosexuality Is Subject of Two Programs,”
The New York Times,
November 3, 1972, p. 79. The other program referred to in the title of O’Connor’s review is
That Certain Summer,
which premiered on November 1, 1972, the night after “A Very Strange Triangle” aired.

An early example of a television talk show addressing the issue of “gender switching” was a December 1957 broadcast of the Dallas talk show
Confession,
which featured an interview with a 22-year-old transvestite named Darrell Wayne Kahler. According to a
Time
magazine article, Kahler was the latest subject “in a line of drug addicts, prostitutes, murderers and alcoholics to answer the unrehearsed questions of Interrogator Jack Wyatt.”
Time praises Confession
for managing “to keep a responsible grip on its sensational material.” The article then goes on to describe the interview, which included a filmed reenactment of Kahler, drunk and in drag, being arrested when three men tried to molest her. “
Confession
,”
Time,
December 30,1957, p. 37.

“The Fourth Sex, Pt. I,”
Medical Center,
CBS-TV, September 8,1975, written by Rita Lakin.